There’s only two Bohol Poll 2013 surveys, the first presented last April 3 and the coming one on May 10. Thus, the categorical declaration Monday of Maria Paz Espiritu, head of the Holy Name University Research Center, in reaction to a paid ad highlighted by mayoralty candidate lawyer Agustinus Gonzaga. Purely a product of the Gonzaga media apparatus, the paid ad hyped the surge of Gonzaga in the supposed latest HNU Research Center Bohol Poll Survey. In that survey, the ad zeroed in on Gonzaga’s survey result of 34 percentage points. It was the camp of mayoralty bet John Geesnel “Baba” Yap which pinpointed the misrepresentation given the source of the survey result which was the Bohol Poll 2013 of HNU Research Center.

In an interview with Espiritu whose comment was sought after DYRD’s Inyong Alagad was bombarded by calls from irate callers presumably admirers of Baba Yap. The calls took exception to the use of Bohol Poll 2013 of HNU as having conducted the survey when in fact there were only two HNU-commissioned polls as attested by Espiritu. Yap’s Pundok Panaghiusa’s whose spokesperson Leonides Borja was apparently tasked to handle the confusion generated by the paid ad went on overdrive to belie Gonzaga’s media hype about his phenomenal rise in survey rating. According to Borja, he had it from a good authority who happened to be an SVD priest, who confided to him the it’s true that there’s only two Bohol polls of HNU. Borja said he got the information from the priest in the presence of another SVD priest.

Borja’s statement was collaborated by Espiritu in the same radio interview and some media men who were present during the presentation on April 4 of the first Bohol Poll 2013 results. During the media presentation last April 3, the emphasis was on two Bohol Poll 2013, the first was presented that day. In explaining further the side of the HNU Research Center, its head differentiated the Bohol Poll 2013 as the only 100% HNU-commissioned while an HNU survey is a privately commissioned survey, meaning the cost for administering the data is shouldered by the party commissioning the said survey. Calling the antics of Gonzaga’s camp as false and deceptive, a press release from the rival group reiterated its assertion that the latest survey result where Gonzaga is on the lead was not a Bohol Poll survey result but commissioned by a private person presumably belonging to Gonzaga’s group.

In another instance, Yap’s group took umbrage of Gonzaga’s false claim of the use of Baba Yap’s middle name “Lim” in the same survey results which was according to its press release as “ highly irregular because it does not appear in the actual ballot” In the same radio excursion of Councilor Borja sought an explanation from HNU of which Espiritu clarified that in the official HNU survey, the one privately commissioned by Gonzaga, what is written is only Baba Yap and there’s no mention of his middle name. Sought for its own reaction, the camp of Gonzaga, said the accusation of deception was all sound and fury signifying nothing. It said whether it erred in using the name Bohol Poll 2013, the fact remains that Gonzaga leads in voters’ preference per the latest HNU survey by +21 percentage points over his closest rival.